When it comes to total weight on everything you’ve packed for a road trip it can be death by 1000 cuts. What seemed like a series of rational choices has now become an overstuffed and cumbersome set of bags. Each time I take a road trip I find myself regretting some of the things I’ve brought, and for my upcoming cross-country pilgrimage I knew I didn’t want to be bogged down by things I didn’t need. So I needed to start thinking about minimalist packing.

After years of practicing minimalism, I have, in my personal journey narrowed down the philosophy into three basic principles.

The Three Laws of Minimalism

1. The removal of whatever is unnecessary. If it’s not crucial to my journey, I’ll leave it at home.
2. The substitution of an item if it’s smaller in weight and/or volume. A couple examples would be a smaller mouse for my computer, and travel size toiletries.
3. Combining several tasks into a single item. Rather than bringing both my Kindle scribe and Kobo, I’ll ditch the Kobo.

Applying The Three Laws To My Minimalist Packing

Below is a list of some of the sacrifices I have made for the trip. Now, a lot of this is going to seem frivolous, but once you see the bottom line I think you’ll get how my death by 1000 cuts analogy really starts to become clear. Because it would take me forever to also include volume I’ll just be focusing on the weight saved.

I didn’t list every single last item on here. For example, there’s a mess of extra cords I have decided to leave at home, because I figure if one fails I can always order another on Amazon or find a local brick and mortar to buy one.  You get the jist though, I have saved just over 5Kg, or just over 11lbs in freedom units. While that may not sound Earth shattering that’s five kilograms I won’t be hauling out my car several times a day, nor will it be five kilograms my car will have to carry ten thousand kilometers.

Applying The Three Laws To Photography

If I am being honest this portion of the minimalist packing process was the easy part. The challenge here is what camera gear do I bring. I’ve done several dress rehearsals when it comes to my camera bag and I’m still unclear as to what I should take with me and what I should leave behind.

These concerns can be highlighted by two main dilemmas.

1. Do I bring two full-flame cameras, or one full-frame and one crop-sensor.
2. Do I bring a flash setup.

Back and forth I go on the benefits and sacrifices of each choice, but I think I finally have a solution.

Pick a Camera Any Camera

For the first question on which cameras I should bring, I think the answer was staring me right in the face the whole time. While I may save on weight with the cameras alone, my Nikon Zfc requires its own charger and batteries, while the Z6II and D780 share them. Let’s break this down.

Staying in line with my third law of minimalism, I should use the Z6II and D780 because the charger and batteries obtain double duty as power for both cameras. Not only that but I’d be reducing the weight by 274g, than if I brought the Zfc and its accessories.

As much as I want a compact camera setup for street photography, I can’t have everything. That’s why it’s called a sacrifice.

Flash or No Flash?

When it comes to minimalist packing, the debate on whether I should bother with extra lighting is a tough one, so I combed over my meta data to see just how often I used flashes and strobes over the last five years.

Now here’s the kicker, I checked to see how many of those photos using flash were outdoors. This eliminates studio work and casual family events and just focuses on the art of it.

Forty Nine. Just forty nine frames and that is from a single session last year. That comes to just 0.407% of my total images in the catalog between 2020-2024 using flash for creative purposes.

I think I like the idea of using a flash but whenever I’m faced with the opportunity, I’m too lazy to execute it.

Writing this all out I think I’ve made up my mind but let’s look at the weight of it as well.

Just over 1.6 kilograms or 3.5lbs. Doesn’t sound like a lot until you realize it won’t be felt with every step while strapped to your back. The truth of the matter is ISO refinement and Lightroom have come a long way and so has HDR. It’s so much easier to take a handheld HDR photo via bracketing than it was fifteen years ago (not to mention they look more natural) and I will have a tripod just in case. Also, I’m no strobist, and this trip isn’t a time for experimentation. What I need to be clear on it taking what I know and have practiced and executing that.

This brings my total weight savings to: 6898g

Basically seven kilograms (15.4lbs) and that is a huge weight off my total load and a leap in the right direction of minimalist packing. As I write this I have nine days until launch, and plan to look for other means to reduce the weight and volume of my cargo. I’ve bored your enough with numbers, so I probably won’t do a follow up…you get the idea.

I hope you found this educational and gave you some ideas on how you can lighten the load on your road trip.